By Matthew D. Bolian

The Millennial generation, youth born roughly between the 1980s and early 2000s, are leading change in the U.S. that will transform the ingredient of suburban success.

According to 2012 study by Robert Charles Lesser & Co. (RCLCO), 88% of all Millennials, or Gen Y, stated they want to live in urban places. What does this mean for the future of car-dominated suburban locations if young adults increasingly desire to live in urban locations?

The first question to answer is why do Millennials want to live urban places. Realtors throughout the nations have noticed several trends among their Millennial first-time home buyers. Karen Smyth of Top Atlanta Real Estate says, “For the most part, the younger demographic in Atlanta is seeking housing inside the urban core. It is an urban, vibrant area, full of nightlife, dining, shopping, parks and activity.” Realtor Matt Fuller sees the same trend in San Francisco, “They [Millennials] want to be part of a walkable, vibrant, and diverse community.”

Urban scholar Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, believes this is a lasting trend. He says, “Young people just out of college tell me that they don’t want their parents’ suburban lifestyle; they’d prefer to find an affordable rental apartment in a city they love where economic opportunities are better. They don’t want to go into debt buying a big house and a big car, just so they can endure a long commute.” The fact is that Millennials aren’t interested in the suburban cul-de-sacs and office parks of their parent’s generation.

In other words, Millennials are tired of wasting time and money driving to do simple tasks – buying groceries, eating at a restaurant, or going to the gym. They want to be in close proximity to excitement, diversity, and vibrancy. They want the ability to walk to their favorite restaurants, music venues, and theaters. With their strict zoning restrictions, suburbs don’t meet this generation’s notions of quality living.

Why does it matter what Millennials want? Over the past four decades, the 76 million Baby Boomers have defined housing patterns. They wanted white picket fences, large yards, and huge houses, and that is what they got. This was chiefly because they where the largest demographic force in the U.S, and thus dictated the market.

Well, their children represent an even larger demographic. An estimated 80 million are in the Millennial generation.

So, when Chris Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and professor of practice in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan, was asked what might be behind a reversal of job-decentralization trend to the suburbs that has persisted over the last three decades, he easily boiled it down to a simple point: “The Millennial generation is demanding it.”

Already a new locational pattern is emerging. In the late 1990s, high-end outer suburbs boasted the most expensive housing in the United States, as measured by price per square foot. Today, the most expensive housing is in the high density, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods of the center city and inner suburbs.

According to the Realtors survey, only 12 percent of future homebuyers want drivable, suburban-fringe houses in large cookie cutter developments. Leinberger says, “Simply put, there has been a profound structural shift – a reversal of what took place in the 1950s, when drivable suburbs boomed and flourished as center cities emptied and withered.”

This is not a doom and gloom message for suburbs. Why?

First, cities will simply not be able to accommodate all the people that want to live in cities. Young adults will have to search for other places to live. Second, many Millennials can’t afford to live in a city, and will seek more affordable options.

Yes, Millennials will live in suburbs, but which suburbs will live in? Melina Duggal, a senior principal at RCLCO believes suburbs will have to change to succeed, “The suburbs will need to evolve to be attractive to Gen Y.”

Ellen Dunham-Hones, AIA and June Williamson, authors of Retrofitting Suburbia, agree. They think that the next big design project for the next fifty years is going to be helping suburbs evolve – rehabilitating dying malls, transforming parking lots into thriving pedestrian friendly market places, and re-inhabiting dead “big box” stores. Successful suburbs will incorporate walkable developments that provide pseudo urban amenities that Millennials crave.

The others – those unwilling to adopt innovative zoning codes – will decline.

What does this mean for Jackson and its downtown? Frankly, it screams opportunity. A large demographic – the largest demographic population in US history – wants a more urban lifestyle. Being that Jackson is the only urban area in the state of Mississippi, one could say that Jackson has a competitive advantage.

The question is no longer if Jackson is going to experience a revival; the question is when (or how soon) is it going to happen, and who is going to be apart of it.

1LT Matthew D. Bolian, a Metro-Jackson native, is a Distinguished Honor Graduate at the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a MSc in Regional and Urban Planning from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Sources:
-http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2012/03/05/Millennials-moving-to-urban-centers/
-http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/01/13/no-mcmansions-for-Millennials/
-http://www.njfuture.org/2011/07/28/city-loving-Millennials-why/
-http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/07/how-the-great-reset-has-already-changed-america/241200/
-http://www.ted.com/talks/ellen_dunham_jones_retrofitting_suburbia.html
-http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/opinion/the-death-of-the-fringe-suburb.html